Susan B. at the Pasadena Library
Blog
September 2, 2019
There was a wonderful reading of Susan B. at the historic Pasadena Central Library on August 14. The actors did a great job, and several did extensive research on their characters. Lisa Verlo, who played Lucy Stone, discovered that August 14 was actually Lucy’s birthday. What serendipity!
In each of the readings we have had so far, a male actor came up to me afterward and said this was one of the best scripts he had read all year. (Each said they read about 50 scripts a year.) Men are far from the heroes of this play, so I was particularly moved and pleased each time I heard that.
In another beautiful gesture, Ellen Snortland, who produced the reading, gave every actor a yellow rose at the close of the evening. Yellow was the color of suffragists at the time of the fight over the Nineteenth Amendment. The reading took place in conjunction with Ellen’s suffrage exhibit at the library.
As a result of this reading, I am starting to form relationships with the Pasadena suffrage community as well as the theater community. I hope to announce a second reading with a local theater in 2020. Watch this space!